From Youngest Weasley to Fierce Fighter
by Pie for President '16
Summary: The story of Ginny Weasley's years at Hogwarts, beginning with the Chamber of Secrets and ending with... well, that's for me to write and you to find out!
1. Chapter 1

This is the prologue to my challenge fic for Ginny's years at Hogwarts. It doesn't count, but I really wanted to do a prologue! So here it is!

The challenge is _Seven Years at Hogwarts_ by **WeasleySeeker**. I chose to write Ginny Weasley. Don't worry, the succeeding chapters won't be this short! I want to make them epic. By epic, I mean close to 10K words a chapter.

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For longer than she could remember, Ginny has always wanted to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was only a year old when her eldest brother, Bill, went to Hogwarts. He came home bearing stories about his first year, none of which she could remember, the same with his second year.

Charlie began Hogwarts when Bill was a third year, and the two eldest Weasley brothers had a blast there and made all their siblings jealous. Or the ones that understood: Percy, Fred and George. Ron and Ginny were still too young to really realize what their eldest brothers were talking about.

Percy followed three years later, and Ginny had better memories of his first year's retelling. It was rather boring, she was more interested to hear about Charlie's fourth year and Bill's sixth year. Charlie had a "so-called" girlfriend, Nymphadora Tonks, and Bill knew he wanted to be a cursebreaker.

Fred and George went two years after Percy, and now Ginny was more eager than ever to go to Hogwarts. At the age of eight, she had already manage to figure out that Ron would be in the same year as the famous Harry Potter. The twins made promises of toilet seats and mischief as they boarded the train.

Charlie was a seventh year at the time, and he knew he wanted to work with dragons. Molly Weasley went through the roof when he announced he'd be taking his N.E.W.T.s during his internship in Romania. Percy was already the perfect student, with the perfect grades. Fred and George stirred up trouble everywhere they went, they became the next James and Sirius.

The following year and nine months were the best of Ginny's life, but she dreaded that one final day in 1991. The day Ron would board the train to Hogwarts. When Ron left, off with Harry Potter perhaps, she'd be the only child left at home. She cried herself to sleep countless nights and Ron comforted her many times, saying he wouldn't ever leave her behind.

Then after a year of sparse letters from her siblings and not seeing Ron for the holidays, she began Hogwarts. She was so excited, it was overwhelming. Little did she know what the year would bring


	2. Ginny and the Diary

Here's the _real_chapter one! Finally. XD The scene between Harry and Ginny in the Chamber and on the train are from the book. The rest are my own. :)

JKR is the genius who wrote _Chamber of Secrets_, and all the other books. I'm just writing her stories (until chapter 7) from Ginny's perspective!

I want to thank my beta, TamariChan! :D

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The summer leading up to Ginny's first year at Hogwarts had been long. She spoke non-stop of what she'd do at Hogwarts and about Harry Potter, who was her brother's new best friend. Halfway through the summer, the end of July, the aforementioned Harry Potter came to stay at the Burrow after her brothers got him with the fixed-up car her father played around with, much to her mother's fury. Ginny embarrassed herself numerous times over the next four weeks whenever around Harry, which earned her taunting from Fred and George. Harry, being the gentleman he was, said nothing about Ginny's embarrassing actions.

The first of September finally arrived and Ginny boarded the Hogwarts Express with Percy, Fred and George. Ron and Harry were nowhere to be seen, and the train left without them, despite Ginny's demands that they wait for her brother and Harry. The youngest Weasley soon found herself in a compartment with two other first years. One was a Muggle-born, by the name of Colin Creevey. The other was a half-blood by the name of Luna Lovegood. Ginny introduced herself happily, and the trio began chatting about what houses they'd be sorted into. Colin said he'd probably be a Hufflepuff while Luna and Ginny said they'd be Gryffindors.

Soon the trolley arrived and Luna bought sweets and pastries for the other two and herself. The three settled into the food and resumed their conversation. An interruption came from Percy not too long after, checking up on Ginny. She replied that she was fine and had already made some friends. Percy left, and her twin brothers appeared asking if Percy was harassing her. Ginny laughed and shook her head 'no'. Fred and George left, and Colin asked how many siblings she had.

"I have six siblings, all boys. Bill and Charlie are gone, Charlie finished two years ago and Bill four. Percy's a sixth year and a Prefect, Fred and George are fourth years, and Ron's a second year."

"Wow, I just have a younger brother, Dennis. What about you, Luna?"

"Me? Oh, I'm an only child." Luna replied, gazing out the window.

The three new friends soon changed into their school robes, and were on their way off the train not long after. They separated from the older students and made their way to a half-giant Ginny knew as Hagrid. He led them to a dozen boats situated on the edge of the Black Lake. After boarding a boat with Colin, Luna and another first year, everyone made the journey to the castle. As it came into sight, Ginny suddenly felt dizzy with excitement.

"Can't believe I'm finally here, I've been waiting eleven years," she gasped.

Soon, they were hopping off the boats and followed Hagrid into the castle and up the steps where they were met by who Ginny knew as Professor McGonagall. Her brothers had been right; she did not look like a woman you'd want to cross. The group of first years waited for close to fifteen minutes before they were told to enter the Great Hall. Ginny looked around in awe. Everything was magnificent in size and color. She looked over to the Gryffindor table and could see Percy, Fred and George waving at her. Ron and Harry weren't anywhere in sight and Ginny's heart fell slightly at this. She wanted her closest brother and her crush to be there, to see her get sorted into Gryffindor, to cheer and welcome her among dozens others.

Colin Creevey was sorted into Gryffindor, rather than Hufflepuff. This earned a loud cheer from the Gryffindor table and Ginny clapped her hands.

"You look worried." Luna pointed out.

"No, I don't." Ginny defended herself.

"Are you looking for someone?"

Ginny let out a sigh.

"Yeah, Ron and his friend, Harry...they're not here."

"They'll be here." Luna smiled dreamily and then went up to the stool because her name had just been called.

"Ravenclaw!" The hat cried out after half a minute and Luna hopped off, going over to the cheering Ravenclaw table.

Ginny stood alone now, waiting for her turn to be sorted. It was finally her turn after ten minutes and she sat at the stool, and had the Sorting Hat placed over her head.

"Another Weasley." The hat said suddenly, causing Ginny to jump.

Yes, the last one. I'm the youngest.

"Ahh, and it seems you should go into Gryffindor. But, let me see. There's some cunningness in you, and a thirst to prove yourself. You'd do well in Slytherin."

Ginny's jaw dropped, but she quickly closed it.

Slytherin? Are you mad, I can't be a Slytherin, my family would disown me. Harry would hate me! I have to be in the same house as him and my brothers.

"Harry, Harry Potter? Well, he could have done well in Slytherin too, you know. But he chose Gryffindor."

I'm choosing Gryffindor too, please place me in Gryffindor!

"Well... if that's what you want. Better be GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted the last word.

Ginny smiled widely and threw the hat off, running towards the Gryffindor table, taking a seat next to Percy. There was only one other person to be sorted before the feast began, and Ginny marveled at the food on the table. She took a bit of everything and began eating hungrily.

Once the feast was over and final announcement made by Headmaster Dumbledore, everyone made their way to their respective Houses. Ginny went quickly up to her dormitory to unpack and look through what she had. She was very eager to start her classes, to begin learning spells for real and not the trick ones her brothers taught her. She already had the Bat Bogey Hex down, but that was pretty much it.

Reaching for her Transfiguration book, she noticed a book had fallen out. It didn't look like a book containing any of her subjects so she decided to investigate further. She replaced the first book with the second, opening it. The pages were blank.

Must be a diary mum bought me, she thought and pulled out a quill.

"My name is Ginny Weasley and I'm a first year Gryffindor." As she wrote 'Gryffindor' she noticed the words fading. She was confused and stopped writing. Was it supposed to soak up the ink? Maybe it was a joke from Fred or George.

Deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice new words had appeared on the page she'd just written in.

"Hello, Ginny. My name is Tom Riddle. I'm a Slytherin, but don't mistake me for one of the traditional Slytherins. I'm an honourable person."

Ginny gasped and looked around frantically. She should definitely show this to Percy, this wasn't a joke belonging to her brothers. As if the diary read her thoughts, it continued to write.

"Please do not panic, this is not dangerous in any way. I just need a friend, a companion. It gets lonely being here by myself after all these years. You can trust me, Ginny."

Ginny let out a sigh and placed the quill shakily on the now blank page.

"I'm sorry, I just thought it was my brothers messing around with me. Don't get me wrong, I love Fred and George. They're ridiculously hilarious, but I am a bit afraid of them at times. Fred once transfigured my other brother, Ron's, teddy bear into a spider and now he has a fear of them. Another time, dad caught George making an Unbreakable Vow between Fred and Ron. They just don't understand when it's too much, you know what I mean?"

The words faded and Tom's words appeared in its place.

"Yes, I understand precisely. Fortunately, I was an only child, so at times I do wish I had older or younger siblings. Are you the youngest?"

Ginny began writing, now a bit more eager.

"I have six brothers. Bill's the oldest, he's a cursebreaker in Egypt. Charlie's next, he works with dragons in Romania. Percy's a sixth year here at Hogwarts and he's a Prefect. Fred and George, I already told you about them, they're fourth years. Ron's a second year and I'm a first year. I actually just got sorted today."

Tom's words appeared a moment later.

"Your first day at Hogwarts, then? You must be tired, I think its best you slept now, Ginny. I'll always be here. Good night."

Ginny put the quill and diary away and changed into her pajamas.

The next morning had been eventful for Ginny. As she was eating breakfast in the Great Hall, she suddenly heard the furious voice of her mother. She looked up in the direction of her mother's voice to see Ron shaking. Soon, Ginny caught wind that Harry and Ron travelled to Hogwarts in her father's fixed-up Muggle car, the same one they retrieved Harry from Privet Drive a month earlier.

Ginny's first class, Potions, was dreadful. Professor Snape frightened most of the first year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, but not Ginny. She heard all the stories about Professor Snape from her brothers, what he did was nothing new to her, although it was just her first class. Unfortunately, her handed-down cauldron had a hole in it, so the potion she was making leaked out onto the desk and floor.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley." Professor Snape sneered. "It's a shame your family can't afford new cauldrons. I wouldn't be surprised if they take away from your father's pay after what happened yesterday, then you'd be sharing with your brothers."

Ginny ignored this jibe and continued working, fighting back tears. She knew she had possessions belonging originally to her older brothers. The cauldron she was currently using used to be Charlie's and had to be at least a decade old. With each passing hour, Ginny felt worse and worse about herself.

She had Charlie's old cauldron and robes. She had Bill's old taped-up wand. The textbooks belonged previously to various brothers. The only thing that she had that didn't belong to her brothers previously was the diary, which she went to write in once classes were over with.

"Tom, are you there? It's Ginny," she wrote.

"Hello, Ginny. How was the first day of classes?"

"It went well, it would have been better if I had my own possessions! I have my brother's old things. Charlie's old cauldron and robes, Bill's old wand. The textbooks used to belong to every one of my brothers. The only thing that didn't belong to them is this diary."

"That's very unfortunate, I am sorry to hear that, Ginny. What do your parents do?"

"My dad works at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office and my mum doesn't do anything."

"I should go, I have to do my Potions paper. I got five points taken away from Gryffindor because of my bloody leaky cauldron!"

"Who's your professor?"

"Snape, he's really mean. All my brothers have had him."

"If you ever need any help with Potions, you can always come to me. I am rather excellent at the subject."

"Thanks, Tom. That means so much. I hear someone coming, I should go!"

With that, Ginny shut the diary and shoved it beneath her bed. Grabbing her Potions book and a piece of parchment, she headed down to the Gryffindor Common Room to meet the other first years doing their coursework.

The days went by slowly, and with each passing day it became chillier. The second week of September brought Quidditch tryouts. Gryffindor had the same team as the year before, so tryouts were unnecessary. Ravenclaw, though, was a Beater short, as they'd finished Hogwarts the year before, so Ginny and Luna watched the tryouts.

"Tom, I wish he would notice me." Ginny wrote in the diary on the first day of autumn.

"Who do you mean, Ginny?"

"Harry. He's too involved with Hermione and my brother, Ron, or Quidditch! How come Colin gets to follow him around but I can't?"

"Tell me about Harry, you seem to really like him."

"Harry Potter, he's the love of my life. He survived You-Know-Who's attack! He's the only person known to not get killed by the killing curse. He's a true hero, and he's had such a difficult life. He had to grow up with Muggles, and I've heard my brothers say they're awful! How could they do that to Harry? Don't they realize how important he is?"

"Muggles have a different perspective on the world than wizards, Ginny. We must try to make them understand how we work, but alas, they are stubborn. They're the ones responsible for executions of wizards and witches."

"What can I do, Tom?"

"Why don't you let me show you how you can help."

Ginny woke hours later, sweating and gasping.

_What happened?_

She looked down to see the opened diary on her lap, pages blank. Ginny shook her head, trying to figure the past few hours out. She'd been talking to Tom, and he was going to show her something. What did he show her?

"Ginny, are you all right?" Luna asked the next day as they walked to Transfiguration.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?"

"You didn't come to dinner last night. I asked your brothers, they said you were sleeping."

"Oh, yeah, I must have fallen asleep. Sorry about that."

Ginny tried to shake off the feeling something was wrong. It must have been exhaustion, she told herself.

That afternoon, she picked up the diary from its resting spot on her bed and opened it.

"Tom, the strangest thing happened yesterday. I blacked out for several hours, and I don't remember what happened. I was talking to you, and you were going to show me something. What did you show me?"

"I tried showing you my hidden place, but you were too stubborn. You need to learn to trust me, Ginny. Let us try again."

With that, Ginny felt a unique sensation and felt herself literally being sucked into the book.

"Tom? What just happened?" Ginny called out, but her voice went unheard. She realized her surroundings were different. It looked like she was underground, in a sewer. The ground was damp and smelled of decay.

"Ginny, welcome to the place I call home. It's the Chamber of Secrets." An unfamiliar voice announced.

"Tom, is that you?"

"Yes, it is me, Ginny." A figure came out from one of the many tunnels and Ginny noticed he was tall and somewhat attractive, but nothing compared to Harry.

"Why are we here?"

"I wanted to show you the place I call home. I've been here for many years now."

"You never leave?"

"No, I must care for the basilisk."

"Basilisk?"

"Yes, would you like to meet her?"

"Sure, do you have a name for it?"

"Nagini."

Tom then began speaking in a foreign language, one that Ginny didn't recognize. It consisted of hissing and spitting. Soon, a great, large snake appeared.

"It's best you close your eyes, Ginny. Eye contact with the basilisk is fatal."

Ginny squeezed her eyes shut.

"Fatal, like it kills?"

"Yes, precisely, Ginny. It kills simply by looking at people or animals."

"Why did you want to show me the basilisk, Tom?"

But Tom was not listening and he began speaking the strange language again. To Ginny's horror, the basilisk replied back, hissing and spitting.

Before she could say anything, Ginny suddenly felt herself being thrown backwards with the weight of a ton of bricks. She opened her eyes and saw that she was sitting on her bed, cross-legged.

_Was I really just in a place called the Chamber of Secrets, with a basilisk?_

Ginny felt nauseous and decided it was best to go to bed, to try to sleep the uneasy feeling off.

Unfortunately, she still felt nauseous and uneasy in the days and weeks following. Percy encouraged her to take some Pepper-Up Potion, and it did little to help.

"Tom, I think I have the flu. Everyone has it at Hogwarts. My brother made me take some Pepper-Up Potion, it was disgusting!"

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ginny. I hope you get better soon. I have a mission for you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"You know the chickens Hagrid raises outside the Forbidden Forest? You have to kill them for me, otherwise Nagini will die."

"Kill them? But how am I going to do that?"

"Strangle them. Let me help you."

Again, Ginny felt the same unique sensation and was being pulled into the pages of the book. She looked around and saw that she was standing outside Hagrid's hut.

"Go do it." Tom's voice ordered.

Ginny began walking towards the brood of chicken.

"Now you don't want to scare them, let them come to you."

Ginny knelt down and held out her hands. About five or six chicken began strutting towards her, cocking their heads curiously.

"Right, now very slowly, reach out."

Ginny did as ordered and grasped a chicken's neck, it let out a squawk.

"You want to dig your nails into its neck until you feel the bone cracking."

Ignoring the sick feeling in her stomach, Ginny drove her nails into the neck of the struggling chicken, piercing its skin and digging into the neck-bone.

After several minutes of squeezing, the chicken fell limp.

"Excellent, Ginny."

Ginny looked down, face pale and fingers numb. She just killed an innocent animal, but it was for the best. She did not want her friend's pet to die.

This went on several times over the weeks of October, and Ginny grew increasingly frantic. She tried telling her brothers this, but they all were too busy for her. One day, near the end of October, she went down to Hagrid's hut, in hopes of seeing Harry. Maybe if she could just let him know what was happening…Unfortunately, he was not there and she returned to the castle.

Halloween arrived, and Ginny was eager to celebrate the holiday with other Hogwarts students. However, that never happened, and she woke up the next morning covered in blood and sweat.

What's going on? She wondered, looking down at her bloody nails. Ignoring the frantic feeling, she went to the bathroom to wipe her hands before heading downstairs.

There were whispers in the Common Room.

"Right scary about Filch's cat," a fifth year commented.

"They're coming after us next," a sixth year said fearfully.

Over the following few days, Ginny learnt that Mrs. Norris had been petrified and a message appeared on one of the castle's wall in blood, which scared her. As much as she tried to, she couldn't get the blood out from under her nails. She took to biting them, which lead to them bleeding.

Ron tried consoling her after she broke down in tears one day a week later. He had mistaken her being upset over the cat being petrified, telling Harry and Hermione she was a cat lover. She knew better than to tell him the truth, and Ginny did not want Ron getting upset with.

Ginny went down to watch the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin that following Saturday. It was a dramatic game, and Ginny had been hoping Harry would catch the Snitch quickly because she did not want Slytherin winning.

Unfortunately, a Bludger began chasing after Harry. It wasn't long before everyone realized it had been tampered with. Ginny gasped in horror and held onto her seat as Harry dodged the rogue Bludger.

It eventually broke Harry's arm, but not before he caught the Snitch, and Professor Lockhart tried to mend it. Instead, he removed all the bones from his right arm, landing Harry in the Hospital Wing for a night to regrow his bones. As Harry got transported off the Quidditch pitch, Ginny noticed Colin Creevey snapping pictures of him. This irritated her-did he not understand Harry was in pain? She was crazy about him, but she knew to give him his pace.

After celebration died down in the Gryffindor Common Room, Ginny went up to her room to write in the diary.

"Tom," Ginny began. "I'm sorry I haven't been writing to you. The past few weeks have been crazy. Filch's cat got petrified on Halloween Day, I think I had something to do with it! Classes have been getting more difficult. I saw the Quidditch match today, it was between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Gryffindor won, Harry caught the Snitch! But someone messed around with the Bludger, it kept chasing after him! It broke his arm, and he's spending the night in the hospital wing."

"Ginny, it is nice to hear from you again. I was beginning to wonder what happened to you. First, it takes advanced dark magic to Petrify, nothing a first year could do. Do not worry about it; I assure you the headmaster will find out who did it. I'm sorry to hear about Harry, but at least your House won the match."

"Thanks, Tom. I think I'm going to go visit Harry."

But before Ginny could shut the diary, she passed out. She woke the next morning shaking and covered in sweat.

Why does this keep happening? She wondered as she got out of bed to splash some cold water on her face. She headed downstairs to the Common Room, which held a tense atmosphere.

"Ginny, you're all right!" Ginny heard a cry from behind her and turned to see Percy.

"What do you mean?"

"No matter, as long as you're fine. Now run along to breakfast, you're looking a bit pale."

Ginny did as her brother instructed and ran into Luna on the way to the Great Hall.

"Hey, Luna," Ginny smiled at her acquaintance. Since they hadn't been sorted into the same house, Ginny and Luna rarely spoke outside of class.

"Did you hear about Colin Creevey?"

Ginny's stomach did an uneasy flip.

"No, what do you mean?"

"He was Petrified, last night."

Ginny suddenly felt sick-all desire to eat was gone.

"What?"

"Yes, Professor Flitwick announced it this morning before breakfast. It's very unfortunate, isn't it?"

Ginny could just nod, and decided to head to the hospital wing. Her excuse was that she wanted to see Harry, but she really wanted to see if  
Colin was actually petrified. She was turned away by Madam Pomfrey and, after not seeing Harry there, Ginny decided to leave and go down to Hagrid's hut. But Harry wasn't there, either.

Fred and George had taken to scaring her in the hallways and the Common Room, which was no help. It just made her even more frightened.

As she sat in the Gryffindor Common Room doing a Transfiguration essay, Fred and George burst suddenly from behind the couch. This startled Ginny, and she began sobbing and shaking. Before she could regain her composure and hex them, Percy came along.

"I heard Ginny screaming. What were you doing?" he glared at the twins.

"Ginny has been sulky, we thought we'd help remedy that." Fred explained.

"You think that was the proper way of cheering her up?"

"Worked for us," George said.

Percy began fuming.

"You thought that'd _help_her? It scared her, look at her, she's shaking! If she gets nightmares, I'm writing to Mum and I will tell her what you've done to her!"

"All right." Fred cowered away from Percy.

"Fine, we'll stop. Sorry, Ginny."

"Yeah, sorry, Gin."

All Ginny could do was nod.

More than once over the following weeks, Ginny had the same unsettling encounters. She found herself going down to Hagrid's hut in a daze, squeezing the necks of the chickens until they fell limp, and woke covered in feathers. Ginny wrote in the diary, confiding in Tom about her possibly going mad, and he wrote back saying she wasn't and it was all circumstantial.

Ginny was among those who decided to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas break. As much as she loved seeing her eldest brother, Bill, she preferred to stay at Hogwarts with her friends and brothers. Maybe she could get Harry alone. Herbology had been cancelled, so she had an hour off to go to her dormitory to start on schoolwork. Unlike Ron and like Hermione, she would much rather get it out of the way first.

But she never got around to doing her schoolwork and woke hours later to, once again, rooster feathers on her robes. She looked down at her lap and saw that the diary lay open. She grew frantic and shoved it under her bed without a second glance. Ginny quickly showered before going back to bed to sleep.

The next morning, everyone was in a panic. Evidently, another student had been attacked. This time, it was second year Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff. Most of the students were eager to get away from Hogwarts and to the safety of their homes. Fred and George made fun of the fact that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin, but Ginny didn't believe that. Deep in the back of her mind, something told her that she was doing the attacks. She didn't dare tell anyone this, though.

Christmas arrived with Ginny, her brothers, Harry and Hermione the only ones remaining in the Gryffindor Tower. After opening presents with her older brothers, Ginny went off to find Luna and spend the day with her.

The holidays came and went, and term started up once again. Ginny still felt unlike herself; she decided it had to be the diary. It was possessing her somehow. One day in January, she decided it was best to dispose of it in the abandoned bathroom on the third floor.

Now free of the diary and more herself, Ginny grew interested in Harry once again. She decided it'd be a good idea to send him a Valentine when February 14th rolled around. The morning of the 14th, though, Professor Lockhart announced that there'd be dwarves bearing Valentines for the student's admirers. Ginny decided she'd make a singing one for Harry.

Unfortunately, it did not go as planned. As she was on her way to a class, and passing Harry, a dwarf suddenly appeared announcing he had something for Harry. Harry tried to shoo them away, but they were stubborn. In the struggle, Harry's bag split in half and out came the diary. Ginny paled in horror.

She was half paying attention when Draco took the diary and Harry stole it back, and didn't hear Percy's threat. She was more concerned about the diary-did Harry find out its secret and what she told Tom?

After an insult from Draco Malfoy, she fled to her classroom fighting back tears. She decided she was going to get the diary back, despite what it did to her.

Ginny could not escape the embarrassment she was feeling for the rest of the day. After classes, in the Common Room, she heard Fred and George repeating the song she wrote for Harry.

It was nearly two months later when Ginny finally found a chance to break into the dormitory to retrieve the diary. It took her a good ten minutes before she found it hidden beneath Harry's Potions book and essay.

She hurried back to her room and placed the diary on her nightstand, she'd write to Tom in the morning. Ginny skipped breakfast the next morning and told her brothers she wasn't feeling well. She wanted to write in the diary and catch Tom up, but she didn't dare tell anyone this last part.

While everyone went off to watch the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, Ginny stayed behind in her room and opened the diary.

"Tom, are you there? It's me, Ginny. I'm sorry I haven't been writing to you the past few months, someone stole the diary and I didn't have the chance to get it back until yesterday."

"Oh, hello, Ginny." _He seems disappointed_, Ginny thought. "It is nice to hear from you again."

What happened next, Ginny did not remember. She just remembered waking up to her dorm mate shaking her awake.

"Ginny, McGonagall's called for a meeting. Let's go."

Ginny felt nauseous. Had there been another attack?

It wasn't until six weeks later that Ginny gained the courage to go tell Ron and Harry about the diary and how she'd been involved in the attacks. But when she approached them at the Gryffindor table, the words she wanted to say escaped her and she began rocking back and forth, looking around frantically.

"Spit it out!" Ron demanded.

"I've got to tell you something," Ginny mumbled, trying not to meet Harry's concerned gaze.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

Ginny began choking on the words in her throat.

"What?" Ron said, Ginny could tell he was growing irritated.

Ginny opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Harry then leant forward, so only Ron and Ginny could hear him.

"Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?"

Ginny took a deep breath, ready to blurt it out, when Percy interrupted. Ginny jumped and looked at Percy frantically. Saying nothing, she ran off to the dormitory.

She opened the diary, and Tom was strangely furious. He demanded that she take the diary and go down to the Chamber of Secrets, but not before writing a message on the wall. In a daze, Ginny wrote a new message on the wall near the abandoned bathroom.

"Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever," it read. Ginny barely gave it a second glance before she marched robotically to the abandoned bathroom, where she ordered the Chamber's entrance to open. Holding the diary closely, she slid down the pipes and made her way to the place the basilisk called home.

She felt the diary trembling and dropped it. Ginny looked down in a stupor and watched as a body stepped out. It was Tom, and before she could say anything, everything went black.

She woke many hours later to Harry crawling towards her, bloody and holding the diary. She let out a shuddering gasp and began crying.

"Harry - oh, Harry - I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I _couldn't_ say it in front of Percy - it was me, Harry - but I - I s-swear I d-didn't mean to - R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over - and - _how_did you kill that - that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I remember is him coming out of the diary-"

"It's all right." Harry held up the diary and showed her the hole in the center of the book. "Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the basilisk. C'mon Ginny, let get out of here-"

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny cried as Harry helped her to her feet the best he could. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and - _what'll mum and dad say_?"

Harry helped Ginny out of the chamber, followed by a phoenix. After a few minutes of walking through the tunnel, they encountered a pile of rocks.

"Ron!" Harry yelled and sped up. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"

The three, with Professor Lockhart, made their way back to the castle with the help of the phoenix, which was named Fawkes. Making their way out of the bathroom, the four followed Fawkes to Dumbledore's office.

"_Ginny_!" Molly cried, flinging herself at her only daughter. Ginny continued sobbing.

Harry went on to explain what happened, and it wasn't long before it was revealed that the diary had been possessing Ginny. She also learnt Tom Riddle was, in fact, Lord Voldemort.

"But, Ginny." Molly was saying. "What's our Ginny got to do with - with - _him_?"

Ginny found her voice at that moment.

"His d-diary!" She sobbed. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year!"

"_Ginny_!" Her father gasped, shocked. "Haven't I taught you _anything_? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself _if you can't see where it keep its brain_? Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of dark magic-"

"I d-didn't know," she sobbed. "I found it inside one of the books mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it -"

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away." Dumbledore interrupted.

Ginny then left with her mother and father to go to the hospital wing.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried, tears still streaming down her face.

"Oh, baby…" Molly wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"It's done with. It's all over now, you're safe." She whispered into her daughter's red hair.

"Let's get you checked out." Arthur said, placing a shoulder on his daughter.

Ginny nodded and the three resumed their walk to the hospital wing, where she was given some Calming Draught.

She decided to lie down, but not shut her eyes, and her parents didn't leave her side. Molly held onto her hand firmly and Arthur hummed a lullaby.

"Ginny?" A voice came from by her bed. Ginny looked up and saw it was Hermione.

"Hermione! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's all right, Ginny." Hermione smiled. "I heard McGonagall talking with Madam Pomfrey. You're forgiven. I should be heading back to the dormitory, but I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, you will." Ginny smiled.

Arthur and Molly didn't leave Ginny's side that night and before bed, Ginny was given a Dreamless Draught. Ginny slept through the night peacefully, only stirring every now and then. The next afternoon, her parents decided that it was time for them to leave.

"We'll see you in a few weeks." Molly told her only daughter as they readied to floo back to the Burrow.

"Don't worry, mum, I'm fine." Ginny said and bid them farewell before going down to the Great Hall for dinner. The feast had been magnificent and eventful. Gryffindor won the House Cup and exams had been cancelled.

"Ginny!" Colin Creevey called from several seats down.

"Colin, how are you feeling?"

"Excellent. I heard Harry saved you! How was that?"

Ginny shrugged, trying to pass it off nonchalantly.

"He was just doing what was right."

The next several weeks passed in pure bliss, Ginny feeling like herself once again. She hung close to Harry, Ron and Hermione. She was growing to like Hermione now, and was no longer jealous of the bushy-haired girl who stole her favorite brother.

"Ginny!" Luna called after her the day before they were to board the train.

"Hey, Luna." Ginny smiled at the pretty Ravenclaw.

"I wanted to give you this before you went home." Luna handed Ginny a necklace, which had a distinct smell to it.

"What is it?"

"It's a garlic necklace, it's supposed to keep evil spirits away. People only associate garlic with vampires, but it has been known to work on other creatures."

"Oh. Well, thanks, Luna."

"Let me help you put it on." Luna took the necklace from Ginny and unhooked it. She then placed it around Ginny's neck.

"There, now you don't have to worry about the same thing happening again."

Soon, they were journeying back to King's Cross Station, Luna and Ginny sitting with the were nearly there when Harry suddenly had a question.

"Ginny - what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?"

"Oh, that," Ginny giggled.

_It had been the third of April, when Ginny and Luna were wandering the empty corridors._

_"Don't worry, Ginny. I have the garlic necklace, nothing's going to hurt us." Luna tried comforting Ginny, who was looking around nervously._

_Ginny wanted to tell Luna that a garlic necklace would be no help, but did not say anything._

_"If we get caught, we'll be in trouble." Ginny told Luna._

_"Don't worry—" But Luna's sentence was left unfinished as they heard a noise from behind a closed door._

_"What was that?" Ginny's voice grew frantic._

_The pair remained frozen in their spot, Ginny in horror and Luna trying to stand defiant. A minute later, there was a moan and giggling. Luna and Ginny exchanged looks, brows raised._

_"I guess we aren't the only ones alone when we aren't supposed to be."_

_Ginny crept forward and opened the door slightly._

_"Ginny!" Luna whispered, trying to pull her friend back._

_Ginny's mouth fell open and she moved backwards, mouth agape._

_"It's Percy, kissing a girl!"_

_"I think we should go." Luna took Ginny's hand and lead her away from the door._

"Percy's got a _girlfriend_."

Fred and George started coming up with ways to torture and embarrass their brother.

The train finally pulled into Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and Ginny bid farewell to Harry, Hermione and Luna. She was ready to start the summer back home, at the Burrow.


End file.
